


What Colors Do You See In This Monochrome World

by saviorofauldrant



Series: Natsume Week 2019 [1]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, breif mention of nyanko sensei but hes not in it so, natsume week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 09:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19438630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saviorofauldrant/pseuds/saviorofauldrant
Summary: “What color is that kimono, Natsume?”Matoba’s question surprised him, so much so that he had to stop his decent across the bridge, “Kimono?”





	What Colors Do You See In This Monochrome World

“What color is that kimono, Natsume?"

Matoba’s question surprised him, so much so that he had to stop his decent across the bridge, “Kimono?” He asked, titling his head slightly in question. Matoba’s back was turned to him, so he couldn’t exactly tell what the man was looking at.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned his head to find Natori, an odd, wry smile on the man’s face as he pointed off in the distance to the side of the bridge. Before he even saw the tree, the thought crossing Natsume’s mind was that this place was big. Not just the building itself, lit up in warm colors that blurred out into the night sky above it, but Natsume could tell the inky black trees around spread far and wide as well.

That forest made Natsume uncomfortable. There was something… empty about it. He supposes that made sense—an exorcist meeting couldn’t take place in a forest teeming with yokai and there would certainly be barriers and talismans everywhere, but Natsume had become rather accustomed to the feeling of spirits surrounding him. Being in such a potentially dangerous place without Nyanko-sensei in his arms made him plenty nervous too. The only reason the ancient beast agreed to be left outside the barrier was on the terms that Natori stayed by Natsume’s side the whole night. Even then, it took arguing, fighting, and bribing on Natsume’s part—though now Natsume was regretting it.

A moment of silence stretched as Natsume considered the forest before he remembered Matoba’s question, “There’s a kimono out there?” He asked, “In the water--?”

He caught sight of it quickly, a dark tree stretching its roots across the entirety of the tiny island in the estate’s lake, the beautiful kimono sticking out—and startling crimson against the muted green of the tree in the night. None of the families Natsume had stayed with were ever particularly wealthy, so it’s not like Natsume knew a lot about expensive silks and designs, but even he could tell that kimono was one of a kind.

“So?” Matoba’s voice breezed into Natsume’s mind, amused at Natsume’s awe but clearly expectant of an answer, “What color is it?” Natsume could feel the exorcist at his side, closer than he was a moment ago, and Natori hadn’t moved from his protective position—so close to Natsume’s shoulder he could feel the man’s warmth. They seemed almost expectant—waiting tensely for his answer.

Natsume’s brow furrowed in confusion, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight across the lake, “What do you mean?” He asked, not sure why they would need to ask him when they had pointed the kimono out in the first place, “It’s clearly red, isn’t it?”

“Is that all?” Natsume finally tore his eyes off the kimono at Matoba’s question to turn to the man, surprised to find his one visible eye trained heavily on him. He still had his unaffected smile on his face, his usual expression he wears to protect from prying eyes, but his gaze was boring into Natsume.

He had a feeling that what he said next was going to be rather important, but he didn’t know why. Usually by now Natori would have stepped between the two, unwilling to let Matoba slide in too close to Natsume, but the man hadn’t said a thing yet—like he was waiting for an answer as well.

Natsume frowned as his gaze turned slowly back around to the tree, wondering what made this kimono so confusing that Matoba would need someone to describe it, “It’s hard to see from here, especially in the dark,” He squinted his eyes in an attempt to make out the subtle gold stitching from across the distance, “But they look like flowers. Chrysanthemums, I think?” He nodded to himself, confident after a few more moments of studying, “Gold chrysanthemums, and, I think, silver peonies.”

At his statement, it felt like the two exorcists on either side let out some kind of breath they had been holding in. Natsume felt as well as heard Natori chuckle beside him, “Chrysanthemums _and_ peonies, you say? Impressive Natsume.”

Natsume frowned up at him, surprised at the fond, and maybe a little tired, look his friend was giving him, “Impressive?”

Matoba casually restarted his trek towards the main building, stepping away from the place he had claimed at Natsume’s side, “About what I expected from you, Natsume,” He said over his shoulder, not stopping to wait as Natori gently nudged Natsume forward so they could follow Matoba, “As far as I know, the two of us are the only ones who see it in that much detail.”

There was something about his tone of voice that sounded off to Natsume. It still had that usual tilt to it, like he was constantly amused, but there something soft, too. Something familiar to Natsume.

Before he could think on it, Natori clapped him softly on the back and Natsume caught another one of the man’s trademark smiles from the corner of his eye, “Seeing flowers at all is amazing, Natsume. Let alone all of them.”

That made Natsume frown, “Do you not see the flowers, Natori-san?”

Natori shook his head, a resigned smile on his face, “I just see a crimson red,” He flashed Natsume an wink that, while innocuous, made the younger boy blush, like usual, “Which, for the record, isn’t too shabby.”

It was in that moment Natsume understood, and something sad and heavy built up in him. That beautiful color and detailed stitching-- it wasn’t something everything saw, was it?

Natsume glanced subtly at the other exorcists at the end of the bridge; what did they all see? If even just knowing the kimono was crimson was pretty good— _Natori_ good—what was normal?

Suddenly, Natsume understood what felt so familiar in Matoba’s voice earlier. It was a sort of relief; the kind of relief Natsume had felt when he met Tanuma, then Natori, and even a little bit when he had met Matoba himself. Natsume had spent his whole life seeing things no one else could see and finally finding others who saw the same scenery as him had been a weight off his shoulders. He had found people who were like him, even a little bit.

(Not that Tanuma saw all that Natsume saw, or that Natori and Matoba exactly saw yokai as Natsume saw them.)

Natsume had to fight down that sense of grief that filled his chest, wishing then more than ever that he had Nyanko-sensei in his arms. He had found people who could see what he saw, but even then, it wasn’t enough. Out there on tree in the water was a kimono that proved, once again, that Natsume wasn’t like anyone else. Natsume could still see things no one else would.

Except… Natsume’s nervous, wandering gaze landed on Matoba’s back, half a dozen feet in front of him as they walked. Matoba could see it too, couldn’t he? Natsume didn’t know how to feel at that. Him and exorcists didn’t exactly get along, Natori being the exception, and Matoba especially was a menace to Natsume’s life. But-- had Matoba been like him?

When they first met, Natsume had decided then and there that he and Matoba were nothing alike. They both saw yokai, but Natsume had been alone in his sight while Matoba had a whole clan of exorcists, as well as many others. Matoba hadn’t grown up afraid and isolated for his sight, Natsume had thought. He had grown up surrounded by the same scenery as everyone else.

But Matoba didn’t see everything the same, did he? How long ago was it, since Matoba first saw this kimono and realized that there was something _different_ about him? Natori had explained what this building was earlier, an important place for exorcist meetings, so Matoba had to have seen this kimono again and again for years now.

Natsume liked to think that softness in Matoba’s voice was his own kind of relief at finally having found someone to share those beautiful golden and silver flowers with. Nyanko-sensei’s voice in the back of his mind argued that Matoba was just a greedy bastard, happy that his new plaything was a powerful one, but Natsume let himself ignore that voice for just a moment.

As they entered the building, Natsume turned back to the kimono, a small smile on his face. Even if not everyone saw the kimono the way he did, not even Natori, Natsume was still even just a little bit happy he had people that saw it at all.

Still, there was just one more thing bothering him…

“Natsume,” Natori called out, him and Matoba waiting for him by the door as Natsume stopped by the railing of the bridge, small frown on his face, “Are you coming?”

Matoba seemed a bit impatient, at least as impatient he would ever let himself seem, as stood a little past Natori, studying Natsume and following his gaze out to the island, “It’s not a color changing kimono, Natsume,” He said, a teasing tilt to his voice, “No matter how long you stare at it, you’ll always see what you first saw.”

“Oh,” Natsume blushed, a little embarrassed at being called out and little annoyed at Matoba’s constant teasing, “That wasn’t it. It’s just…”

“What is it?” Natori asked, his tone light and casual, but concern bleeding into his eyes as he stepped closer.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Natsume sputtered, finally turning away from the water but leaving an eye still trained on the tree, “I was just wondering something.”

Natori, a little less tense, hummed questioningly as Matoba raised a curious eyebrow behind him.

“It’s just that,” Natsume spared one more look at the tree before turning his full gaze on the two men, “Is she always alone, out there?”

In that instant, Natori and Matoba, for the first time Natsume has ever witnessed, were in perfect sync. Their jaws dropped slightly as if noise were supposed to be coming out but couldn’t, eyes widened in surprise, and heads swiveled towards the island so quick it made Natsume’s neck hurt watching.

“ _She_?” Natori said, the word an odd mixture of a question and a strained statement as his voice raised a itself a pitch at the end.

Natsume frowned at that, mentally chiding himself, “Oh, yeah, I suppose I don’t know if they identity as a woman or not,” Natsume was usually a lot better about those kinds of assumptions, _especially_ with all his dealings with gender non-conforming yokai, “With the beautiful kimono and such long hair I just kind of assumed.”

Natori almost made a noise like a choke, the noise worrying Natsume greatly, and Matoba finally took a step closer to Natsume from his previously frozen state, the eye fixated on Natsume guarded but still bright with thinly veiled wonder, “Hair?” He asked, voice so quiet it sounded like he was trying to hide all emotion in it through sheer lack of volume, “Whose hair do you see, Natsume?”

“Well it just looks so beautiful and white I—” Natsume stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening as he looked at the two shocked men in front of him and back to the beautiful figure in the tree. Kimono hanging off their shoulders and fluttering in the wind, silky white hair contrasting ethereally with the black around them, and pale thing legs dangling off the branches, swinging back and forth—they were impossible to miss, even in the night’s darkness.

 _Oh_ , Natsume realized a soft sigh on his breath as the figure in the tree caught his sight and waved casually and even from such a distance Natsume just knew he could see a knowing smile on their pale face, _maybe some scenery is still just a little special to me, after all_.

Whispers broke out among the many exorcists at the edge of the water as an unfamiliar voice called out from a window of the building, panicked and shocked, “Did the spiritual kimono just wave?”

Natori and Matoba were at a loss for words the rest of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't usually participate in fandom events but NatsuYuu is just so beautiful and I've been trying to give myself something to do this summer so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> Don't know if I'll do all seven days so we'll see lol (not that anyone wants to see seven days of my writing but)  
> About the kimono: it was mentioned that some people see chrysanthemums and some see peonies, and that Matoba sees it "in great detail" or something so I went ahead and decided he saw both and that was the peak of spiritual power. Or, at least the peak until Natsume comes along.  
> What is that yokai doing in that tree? Who are they? Why do thy represent the various levels of Sight people can have? The answer is I don't fckn know


End file.
